Rolling mill



June 10, 1930. J. R. GEORGE ET AL 1,762,293

ROLLING MILL Filed July 9, 192a an; Q Q

Junie/elm c/EBOME E 650 G5 Patented June 10, 1.930

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JEROME R. GEORGE AND JOHN W. SHEPERDSON, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS T MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF -WORCESTER, MASSACHU- SETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS ROLLING MILL Application filed July 9, 1928. Serial No. 291,403.

The present invention relates generally to rolling mills and, in particular, to improvements in a mill of the close-coupled or continuous type which, as is well known, has

many advantages in respect to first cost, compact-mess, and, in hot rolling, the maintenance of temperatures, over a mill of the open type. To meet modern requirements however, with respect to accuracy of gauging, uniformity of width, and smoothness of edges in the productsof such continuous mills, it is necessary, especially in a mill which combines flatwise and edgewise rolling, for the production of skelp, sheet bar, and similar rolled products requiring good edges, to arrange the edging and flattening rolls in a certain delinite relation, in order to secure the best results. The present invention. resides in such 1 a novel combination and arrangement of the several roll stands, and also, as hereinafter set forth, in a novel arrangement of the drivin inst-rumentalities therefor.

The several features and advantages of the invention are more fully set fortlr in the following description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of rolling mill apparatus arranged in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating a modification of one of the driving instrumentalities employed in the mill.

Referring to said drawing, A indicates a furnace from which the successive pieces of heated stock are discharged lengthwise, in any well known manner, in the direction of the arrow B, in substantial alinement with the passes of the several roll stands that constitute our improved mill. The latter, as shown, comprises a plurality of horizontal stands of rolls, arranged in juxtaposed pairs, which are numbered 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, and 7 and'8, with the two roll stands of each pair placed somewhat closer together to each other than are the pairs-themselves.

. In front of the first pair of roll stands 1 and 2 is disposed a stand of edging rolls 9, and similar individual stands of edging rolls 10, 11 and 12 are interposed in the spaces between 50 each of the succeeding pairs of horizontal stands, so that, in its entirety, the mill consists of individual stands of edging rolls and pairs of stands of fiatting rolls in alternating relation.

That portion of the mill which includes the horizontal stands 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the edging stands 9, 10 and 11, constitutes the roughing portion, for which the drive is furnished from a single source, for example, a motor 13 whose shaft is connected to a speed reducing unit 14. The slow speed member 15 of this unit extends laterally on both sides of the unit, in the form of countershafting 16 and 16, and from this countershafting the drive of the several stands of rolls in the roughing portion of the mill is effected inthe following manner.

The usual pinions 17, 17 for the initial pair of fiatting stands 1, 2 are actuated by relatively short spindles 18, 18, each of which is driven by the usual bevel gearing 19 from countershaft portion 16. In the same way, the pinions 17, 17 of the second pair of flatting stands 3, 4 take their drive through relatively short spindles 18, 18 that are operatively connected by bevel gearing 19 to the other countershaft portion 16. The driving spindle 20 for the initial edging stand 9 may take its drive through spur gearing 21 from a short shaft 22 that has a bevel gear connection 23 with the end of countershaft section 16,

as shown in Fig. 1. Or if desired, as shown in Fig. 2, the drive of this short shaft 22 may be from an independent motor 22. This short shaft 22 also serves, if desired, for the actuation of a shear 24 placed between the furnace A and the initial stand of edging rolls 9, the drive for the actuating shaft 25 of said shear being through spur gearing 26.

While there is room enough at the initial end of the mill to extend the countershaft section 16 for the drive ofthe edging rolls 9 in the fashion above described, the need for conservation of space does not permit similar elongation of the countershafting 16, 16 for the drives of the subsequent stands of edging rolls 10 and 11 of the roughing mill. The spindles 27, 27 of these edging roll stands take their drive instead from the adjacent spindles 18, 18 of the preceding flatting stands 2 and 4, respectively, through the medium,

for instance, of double sets of bevel gearing In the finishing portion of the mill, as constituted by the pair of flatting stands 7, 8, and the preceding edging stand 12, the requirements of flexibility and individual speed adjustment over a wide range are best served by driving each of said last three stands of rolls 12, 7 and 8-from individual variable speed electric motors 29, 30 and 31, respectively. These motors are preferably arranged in offset relation, as shown, the better to accommodate the motor drive, as hereinafter described, for the flatting stands 5 and 6 which constitute the intermediate portion of the mill, while at the same time concentrating all the motors used in driving the mill within a relatively small area. The space thus left between these three individual motors and the roughing mill motor 13 is sufiicient to receive, as shown, the motor 32 and its shaft extension 33 in operative relation to the drives of the intermediate flatting stands 5 and 6, when said motor and shaft extensions are disposed in the oblique position shown; the usual pinions 34, 34 of these roll stands 5 and 6 can then be operatively connected by relatively short spindles 35, 35 to the shaft extension 33 through the medium of the usual sets of bevel gears 36, .36.

The arrangement and the drives of the several roll stands, as above described, provide a mill, which notwithstanding its compactness, is adapted to afford the requisite flexibility in operation, in consequence of the independence and adjustability of the driving devices for the several finishing and intermediate stands of rolls. Furthermore, by reason of relative frequency of the edgewise rolling, the stock emerges from the mill with its edges straight and true and of uniform thickness, which is g of particular importance in the manufacture, for instance, of skelp bar. We claim:

' 1. In a rolling mill, the combination with edgingstands beingdriven by gearing from the adjacent flatting stand spindles, and a: finlshing portion providing a pair of flatting roll stands preceded by an individual edging roll stand, with separate driving'means for said last-mentioned three stands of rolls.

2. A rolling mill, providing a pluralit of roughing roll stands comprising indivi ual edging roll stands inalternating relation to pairs of stands of flatting rolls, a common driving means for all of said stands of roughing rolls, comprising a countershaft running lengthwise of said mill and having bevel gear connections to the spindles of the initial edging stand and to all of, said flatting stands, the spindles of the subsequent edging stands being driven by gearing from the adjacent flatting stand spindles, in combination with additional roll stands comprising two pairs of flatting roll stands with an interposed individual. edging roll stand, the first pair of said last-mentioned flatting roll stands having a driving means separate from the driving means of said roughing stands, and the last three stands of rolls of said mill having separate individual driving means.

3. A rolling mill, providing a plurality .of roughing roll stands comprising individual edging roll stands in alternating relation to pairs of stands of flatting rolls, a common driving means for all of said stands of roughing rolls, comprising a countershaft running lengthwise of said mill and having bevel gear connections to the spindles of the initial edging stand and to all of said flatting stands, the spindles of the subsequent edging stands being driven by gearing from the adjacent atting stand spindles, in combination with additional roll stands comprising two pairs of flatting roll stands with an interposed individual edging rollstand, the first pair of said last-mentioned flatting roll stands having a driving means separate from the driving means of saidroughing stands, and the last three stands of rolls of said mill having separate individual driving means, all ofsaid driving means being grouped together compactly, with the second-named driving means for the intermediate pair of flatting stands occupying an oblique position between the driving means for the roughing stands and the individual drives for the las three roll stands, the latter comprising an euging stand followed by two flatting stands.

JEROME R. GEORGE. JOHN W. SHEPERDSON. 

